It’s clear which side Beck is on. Through a mix of Christian theology and political
evangelism, he’s established himself as a man who is nothing if not dedicated to our
Constitution and a religious order.
“I see this as a George Washington said, ‘Meet me on the battlefield of ideas.’…Does man have a right to decide his own destiny without the coddling of the collective? Does man pay for the sins of the mistakes of his father or for the grandeur of his father does he get reward? Or does a man have to stand on his own two feet and live and die in his own merit with the understanding that there are some, some, in our society that just can’t stand on their own two feet and we have a responsibility to take care of those. Is that where we
are headed?”
Perhaps another option is an oligarchy, said Glenn Beck. He is especially concerned about the intersection of politics and power. “Or are we headed towards… some sort of controlling government that will only allow man to expand, succeed, and fail just so much. That’s the first battle and that’s the battlefield of ideas,” he said.
Beck has received scores of criticism from those who say the timing of his rally – on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech – seeks to overshadow the civil rights movement in a negative or demeaning way. For example, Media Matters has titled the event Glenn Beck's 8-28 "reclaim the civil rights movement" rally. But Beck is nonplussed.
“I’ve read Martin Luther King’s speeches, I’ve read his sermons, I have listened and respect the words he said, I take him at his face value and that is to follow God, listen to God, be peaceful, but stand for the right of man to be equal and have an equal shot,” said Beck. “That it is not about the color of skin, it is about the content of character. I don’t know if there is going to be a word on stage that Martin Luther King would disagree with.”
One-thousand buses have reserved space in D.C. for the Glenn Beck Rally. By comparison, there were about 3000 buses for President Obama’s inauguration.
Stay tuned for a full transcript of Beck's exclusive interview with Townhall.